The weapon was easily wrenched from his feeble hands.  A consultation was held as to what should be done with the courageous but powerless old chief.  “As it was a considerable distance to carry him,” writes Ensign Smith, “we struck him down with his own axe.”

At length the sufferings of the Esopus Indians became so great from the burning of the villages and the trampling down of their cornfields, the loss of their armies and the terrified flight of their starving women and children, that they were constrained to make another effort for peace.

On the 11th of July, Governor Stuyvesant left New Amsterdam for Esopus.  Messengers were dispatched to summon the Esopus chiefs to his presence.  Appalled by the fate of their brethren, who had been sent as slaves to the West Indies, they were afraid to come.  After waiting several days the governor sent envoys to the chiefs of other tribes, urging them “to bring the Esopus savages to terms.”

At length four Esopus chiefs appeared before the gate of the village.  Delegates from other tribes also appeared, and a grand council was held.  It is very evident from this interview, that many of the more delicate feelings of the civilized man had full sway in the hearts of these poor Indians.  Instead of imploring peace themselves, the Esopus Indians employed two chiefs, one of the Mohawk and the other of the Mingua tribe, to make the proposition in their behalf.

Governor Stuyvesant assented to peace upon condition that the Mohawks and the Minguas would stand as security for the faithful observance of the terms exacted.  The chiefs of these tribes agreeing to this, in a formal speech admonished the Esopus chiefs to live with the Dutch as brothers.  And then, turning to the Dutch, in a speech equally impressive, they warned them not to irritate the Indians by unjust treatment.  The Indians were compelled to yield to such terms as Stuyvesant proposed.

All the lands of Esopus were surrendered to the Dutch.  The starving Indians were to receive eight hundred schepels of corn as ransom for the captive christians.  The Indian warriors sent as slaves to the West Indies, were to be left to their awful fate.  The mediators were held responsible for the faithful execution of the treaty.  Should the Esopus Indians break it, the mediators were bound to assist the Dutch in punishing them.  No spirituous liquors were to be drank near the houses of the Dutch.  No armed Indians to approach a Dutch plantation.  Murderers were to be mutually surrendered, and damages reciprocally paid for.

Thus were the Esopus Indians driven from their homes, deprived of their independence and virtually ruined.  Having thus triumphantly though cruelly settled this difficulty, Stuyvesant went up to fort Orange, where he held another grand council with the chiefs of all the tribes in those regions.